Well, I invite you to turn this morning in your Bibles that are in front of you to John chapter 20, John chapter 20, that's found on page 1077. And we'll be looking at verses 1 through 16 this morning of John chapter 20, 1 through 18. Beginning at verse 1, now on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early while it was still dark and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to him, They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him. So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb. Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came following him and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there in the face cloth, which had been on Jesus's head, not lying with linen cloths, but folded up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in and he saw and believed for as yet they did not understand the scripture that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples went back to their homes. But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she went in, she stooped to look into the tomb. And she saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had laid, one on the head and one at the feet. They said to her, woman, why are you weeping? She said to them, they've taken away my lord and i do not know where they've laid him having said this she turned around and saw jesus standing but she did not know that it was jesus jesus said to her woman why are you weeping whom are you seeking supposing him to be the gardener she said to him sir if you have carried him away tell me where you have laid him and i will take him away jesus said to her mary she turned and said to him in Aramaic which means teacher Jesus said to her do not cling to me for I have not yet ascended to the Father but go to my brothers and say to them I am ascending to my Father and your Father to my God and your God Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples I have seen the Lord and that he had said these things to her and there we'll end the reading of God's word well the resurrection of jesus christ is indeed a shocking claim of christianity isn't it think about what we're celebrating today think about what we're gathering to think about and meditate on today that the eternal son of god who in becoming one of us and taking on our human nature died for us and then triumphing out of the grave he rose defeating sin and death so that we might have eternal life now as you know the challenge in preaching this every year and it should be a message that we hear every sunday this is not a one once a year shot um the challenge is is that these sort of truths easily pass over the head and we have not really taken in with understanding exactly what we are confessing and what we believe about the resurrection of Jesus Christ so that what we say and what we so commonly say doesn't translate to understanding. But by and large, what we have in Christ dying on the cross and rising from the dead, we see this problem play out and major attention is given to it that the people and the disciples and the people who were all surrounding the resurrection did not understand these things. So I've really tried to, since last week with Palm Sunday, grab that theme and work with this because I think it's a major theme that you see running through all these accounts of the resurrection, especially that there was so much confusion, so much confusion about the whole thing. One of the things I challenged us with last Sunday is to celebrate the great truths that we confess with understanding. What we studied on Palm Sunday was something. All the crowds had gathered around Jesus. They're waving palm branches. They're celebrating Psalm 118. They're singing Psalm 118. And it was merely a moment of enthusiasm. It was merely a moment of excitement. But there was no understanding of what it meant. And by and large, this was true even for the disciples. As the redemptive work of Jesus was playing out in history, they did not grasp it. At one point, Peter would even try to stop it, you remember. Well, remember what was said to them on Palm Sunday. What was said as they were singing Hosanna. John gives us, looking back over the event, when the Gospel of John was written, His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when He was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about Him and done to Him. So there was progress there, but they didn't understand any of it. So you see that we can have a celebration today of the resurrection. We can gather and we can feel like we have gone through the event. We've made it a niche event that we have learned to celebrate. moment of enthusiasm, but we go home today without understanding. And that would not please our Lord. This is what we were pressed with last time. He wants understanding. He wants contemplation of what's been done for you. That translates to real sort of faith and response of gratitude for it. Well, that's my question today. That's what we're working with a little bit today. How does understanding come and what are the obstacles to understanding i think that's a fair question the resurrection seems to be showing us this he how does our event turn into understanding and the responses to the announcement of the resurrection are fascinating to study the gospels have us think about this so notice what's in front of us today in john's gospel we're working through some of these you'll notice in verse 1 of john chapter 20 now on the first day of the week mary magdalene came to the tomb and while it was still dark and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb she came to the tomb she sees the stone had been rolled away from the tomb and it actually means it had been lifted up out of the ground out of its socket ripped right out of it. Mary sees this. She's with the women and she runs the other way to Simon and the other disciple who is clearly John, the one whom Jesus loved. It's always been my position on this. And she expresses to them, well, they have taken away our Lord and I do not know where they have laid him. If you were to compare this with the other accounts, we see that the other women had come with Mary Magdalene to the tomb. When Mary saw that the stone was rolled away, Mary alone then goes alone and dashes back to these other two disciples. And it was at that time that the angels first appeared to these women at the tomb. He is not here. He is risen. It seems that Mary Magdalene missed this announcement. So she runs away to Peter and John, telling them that the stone is gone. And I don't know where his body is. They've taken it. Well, Peter and John break out in a race. And you'll notice the detail here. I don't know how many sermons I've heard on this about the running race that took place. I think it was years ago that I said it was probably like me and Dr. Godfrey in a running race if this were to happen. Peter and John, that's not really the detail here for a reason. What the text is doing is having us think about responses. They're all different. John gets to the tomb first. He outruns Peter. And he stoops and he looks in. And he sees the linen cloths lying there. He doesn't go in. That's interesting. Here comes Peter. Think of his personality. He bursts right into the tomb. John won't go in. Peter just runs right in. He sees the linen cloths lying there and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded up by itself. Peter goes in and sees the faith cloths and everything folded nicely. That might be a good application to tell our kids to fold their clothes and make the bed, but that's not really what this is about. I might take that opportunity right now. The point is, a dead person doesn't do this. And certainly, if a body were stolen, thieves don't fold the clothes. That has major history for the future for us to look back on. But it's interesting what's being zeroed in on here. It's looking at the responses to the resurrection. It seems to me that what's captured in these responses is something of who we are that gets in the way. John runs, stoops, but he won't go in. Peter comes barging right in. Mary stands there weeping. The two on the road to the Maus are just confused about the whole thing. Thomas flat out won't believe unless he sees. It's interesting the range of responses we have in the resurrection, isn't it? Of the people, of the disciples. What's captured is really that the obstacle to them believing, well, at least initially, I think, as John shows us, are their own unique personalities. and their temperaments who they are and maybe their experiences of life you know i i remember visiting two widows in their 90s and the first i visited was a while back afflicted with many different physical problems and she's in her 90s and i asked her i said well do you ever ever wonder why the lord doesn't doesn't call you home yet she goes oh no pastor i figure if god has me here there's some purpose for my family i know the lord will never leave me nor forsake me i drive from that visit to the next visit of another widow in her 90s and right after i asked before i even got to the question this is it was a remarkable providence she says pastor i just struggle with why god doesn't take me when i look at my past and my burdens and my sins it really troubles me both of these are dear saints faithful saints there are different people with different experiences different troubles different hardships, and a range of emotions that I think affect how we approach the Christian faith at times. I raise this because the greatest obstacles sometimes to faith is exactly who we are. I'm probably more like Peter, who would aggressively barge in and then run back to my fishing business and give up because I'd failed so terribly. I could see myself at the end of my days struggling with lamenting on how I failed so much as a person in loving the flock or doing this or that and struggling even myself to keep my eyes on Christ. Others Others have more confidence in life. They're wired that way. Others are heart of heart like Thomas. I won't believe unless I see. Others are like Mary. They're always full of grief so that they can't see. But what is the uniting factor when it comes to the resurrection? The text says something interesting If you look at verse 8, then the other disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in. He saw and believed, for as yet they did not understand the scripture, verse 9, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples went back to their homes. Now, that's a bewildering verse. That's a confusing verse. So they went home? Is that what the resurrection did? You're going to go home soon. What does any of this do for you? The greatest issue for everyone is understanding, isn't it? How does that come? What does resurrection mean for us? What does this mean? We're gathered together. There's a full house today. What does it all mean for us? And how does that change everything? That's a radical claim of Christianity. You see, we're not just celebrating some abstract truth that Jesus has risen from the dead. We're not just celebrating some evidences of it as if this is just some neat thing that has happened. This is some exciting thing that has happened. But we leave without understanding what it's all about. You see the problem all the way through in the Gospels. There's no understanding of these things. I told you what greatly concerns me today is that what we have happening across this land, I've not seen it to this degree in so long, is that we have made this, as I said last time, our Super Bowl Sunday. And we have the Easter egg hunts and we have the fun practical messages. And everyone gets in this emotional frenzy. Everyone gets in this excitable moment. And we go home with no understanding. Is that not a real problem? it's a mechanism of denial by the way to dress up something so that we don't get to the real realities of it so that we live in denial of what it's really saying to us here's our challenge palm sunday no one understood it in the foot washing event in john 13 which we love jesus says what i'm doing you do not understand now. That's John again. You don't understand this. I'm doing this. I'm washing your feet. You don't understand it. Jesus to the Emmaus disciples, are you serious? Oh, slow to understand. He had opened their minds that Christ must suffer and then on the third day rise from the dead, but how? And I think Mary is the key in this. John puts a spotlight on Mary for a moment and it's beautiful. She has her own unique personality. There's something powerful about it being a woman that Jesus is first revealed to because just like in a garden, here we are in a brand new garden, just like in the first garden with Eve, you see the restoration of the new creation happening right here. The spotlight is on Mary. She's been abandoned by Peter and John. She's already been at the tomb. She won't go back home. Verse 11, she comes back. Everyone is gone, and we read that she stood outside the tomb weeping. You can picture her. She's looking at the cloths. They're folded, and she's wondering how could any of this be? Why is Mary given so much attention. Why does John want us to think about Mary? The disciples go back to their houses. Thomas is hard. Peter wants to go fish. You even get the sense on the one on the road to Emmaus, they're giving up. They're going the wrong way. They're leaving Jerusalem. But Mary is blinded by genuine grief. She loves her Savior. But should she be grieving? See, that's the question. Should she be grieving? A lot of people never get up from grief in this life. A lot of people never get over grief. Depending on the losses. The pain is so great here in verse 11 that the two angels in white speak to her and say, Woman, why are you weeping? Her pain is so great she can't even see him. And you almost feel how distraught she is through the whole thing. They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they've laid him. And notice that as she's struggling and as she's weeping, having her reality in front of her completely clouded by the tears, to the point of having no hope, she turns around and she sees Jesus standing there. It's quite a scene. But she can't see Him. I think Mary captures for us all the sorrow and pain of death and sin in this world, of what it has brought. I know a lot of people have lived with this. A lot of people have suffered because of how sin has ruined everything good and how death has taken what is most important, we feel at times. And you feel the pain of the loss of a child or spouse. This is Mary, overcome with grief, but loves her Lord. Notice how Jesus helps her. Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking? You're weeping, but just whom are you seeking? She too has the same problem. What is the number one problem for all of them, beloved? She does not understand from the scripture that he must rise from the dead. You see, this is the problem. And I would say this ties to all the apprehensions, all the doubts, all the fears, all the confusion that we have in this life. All those frustrations. Think of what the issue is here. Think of what we're believing today. Think of what we're confessing today. If Christ is not raised, all of you are still in your sins. Which means you are all headed for hellfire. And you have no idea if you will breathe your last night. Who is she seeking? Who are you seeking? A dead Savior? See, that makes sense, doesn't it? That body she thinks must be found. She couldn't see Him because she still hasn't understood the Scriptures. It had to happen. And if it had to happen, and it was going to happen and the scriptures foretold that it was going to happen, that would change everything. It would change every aspect of your life. Now didn't you see that a moment ago with Matthew Kirby? What convinced him? The Easter egg hunt? The great show we put on today? what convinced him out of his mouth was the preaching of the gospel of Christ from the scriptures that converted him. If Christ is not raised, there is no hope in life or in death. How are you going to be convinced about that? If Christ is not raised, we are to be pitied of all people. We are foolish today. Why are we even here? What a dumb thing to preach a dead Jesus. If we can look at everything that happens to us in life through the lens of the resurrection, then that's going to change everything. But how does this account help us? She, supposing him to be the gardener, said to him, where have you carried him away tell me where you've laid him and I'll take him away we have here fear that the body of Jesus has been stolen sir if you have carried him away tell me you're the gardener I'll take him away myself Mary you almost feel the power of that jump off the page because the good shepherd's calling his sheep by her name and when the good shepherd calls his sheep by their name, they come, they hear. It's sovereign power. She all of a sudden bursts into tears and she emotionally begins to ramble away. But I can't come this morning to draw this to a conclusion to what is the great solution to all of this problem. It's a verse that I have overlooked my whole ministry. It's a verse that I've avoided my whole ministry. I've never understood it. And it's verse 20. Actually, it's verse 17. It's not the verse. Verse 17. Jesus said to her, Do not cling to me. For I have not yet ascended to my Father. But go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father and to my God and your God. Do not cling to me right now, Mary. Why would he say that? It's because she's clinging without understanding. No one has understanding at this point. It's a beautiful clinging. it's kind of a right clinging in its own way but it's an emotional clinging without understanding jesus doesn't want us getting emotional about this in that kind of way to feel sorry for him that he went through that terrible death friday that we saw we talked about the beatings the punchings feel sorry for him it's as if jesus says mary the kind of blessing and the kind of fellowship that will be most special. The one that will be most understood. And you have to appreciate what I've done for you when it will be most understood what I've done for you. It will have to be a far richer and better communion than this. So I have to go away. To my Father and your Father. To my God and your God. notice how intimate this is the communion that is about to happen between us mary will come with understanding when your heart is enlightened what is he talking about why would jesus say this if he's standing there in person i mean wouldn't you rather have Jesus standing here in person today? Wouldn't that make this all the more real? Wouldn't you believe then? Whoever believes in me, John 7, as Scripture said, rivers of living water will flow from within him. That's what you saw with Matthew. By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were later to receive. Up to this time, the Spirit had not been given since Jesus had not been glorified. John 7. This is why there's no understanding. In other words, what Jesus knew was it was so much better for him to fulfill all the work to live the perfect life for you to die on the cross to take the punishment to go into the grave for you to rise triumphant and then to go to his father to go away because he says when the spirit of truth comes he will guide you in all truth he will not speak on his own he will speak only what he hears and he will tell you what is yet to come he will bring glory to me by taking what is mine and making it known to you proclaiming it to you that's the word for preaching the gospel to you this is how he came all that belongs to the Father is mine that is why I said the Spirit will take what is mine and make it known to you in a little while you will see me no more and then after a little while you will see me how? by the Spirit proclaiming what I'm proclaiming right now what does the Spirit do? He convicts you of sin in your life he regenerates your hearts and gives you life in them he gives you assurance of salvation think of all of our different talk about all of our different personalities here he enlightens you he transforms he gives fruitfulness in your life he gives you power so you could have many confusions today you may be sad you may have doubts you may have lived a life of terrible sin you may fit well into one of these characters which one but the lord doesn't leave any of us here he takes his spirit and the spirit takes the scriptures so that you in understanding would see christ and that his great work the common denominator work of the holy spirit for us is that we may know the son that we may understand the son the father is pleased with that when we hear and understand his son to understand today that Christ loves you, that He died for you, to forgive your sins, and to set you free from the judgment that is to come. You have no idea what you could be facing. We have people who want to be entertained to death in this. He wants you to grasp the plan that was put down in Scripture from the beginning for you. That He did everything necessary to save you. He lived. He died. He made atonement. He went into the grave. He rose triumphant. And now He's ascended in heaven for you and gave you His Spirit so that you would understand the Scriptures. It's done. It's finished. For I deliver to you as of first importance what I also receive that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures that he was buried that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures it's done you don't add to it it's done believe it and now with understanding which is what he loves praise him for the grace he's shown to you in life he came here in AD 30 died the cruel death he's no longer on that cross he's risen indeed do you believe it? do you believe what he's telling you? your sins which brought death have been overcome and your own deaths are overcome what a news he's given to us go tell my brothers Mary go tell your friends about this because it's the best news you're ever going to get let's pray Heavenly Father thank you for so amazing a truth in your gospel thank you for all that you've done and recording this in the Scriptures, inspiring it far ahead. May our minds be open this way. May we have understanding. May we praise You. Thank You for all You've done for us. Thank You for the indescribable gift of Your Son. Be merciful to us and patient, for we're so weak, we're so slow to understand. But give us Your Spirit that the eyes of our hearts may be enlightened to know what is the height, depth, and width of the love of Christ that surpasses understanding. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.